Boarding Home Where Cops Killed Man May Be Shut

February 11, 2000|By Douglas Holt, Tribune Staff Writer.

Illinois authorities are seeking to revoke the license of a North Side nursing home, citing filthy living conditions and inadequate supervision that came to light last summer after Chicago police fatally shot a delusional patient they had been called to take away.

The state also has fined the 32-resident facility $13,500, according to a Department of Public Health statement released Thursday.

On Aug. 1, Earl Lee, a 42-year-old mentally troubled resident at Lakeside Boarding Home, had lunged at a police officer, stabbing him in the neck with a 17-inch knife. Lee was fatally shot moments later as he rushed toward other officers outside the home, at 6330 N. Sheridan Rd. The stabbed officer was not seriously wounded.

The Public Health Department's investigation concluded that Lakeside Boarding Home staff members violated state law by failing to have Lee removed from the home earlier. That failure put other residents and staff at grave risk, the state said.

Gary Parikh, the home's administrator and owner, called the state's attempted shutdown "insane" and said that his facility is a homeless shelter that should not be held to nursing home regulations. The facility does not receive Public Aid money given to nursing homes and is funded by Social Security disability payments that amount to $700 per patient per month, he said.

According to state investigators, Lee displayed signs of trouble for weeks before he was killed. He stopped taking the medications that kept him from becoming manic and delusional, and Lakeside's staff noticed with alarm that he began carrying a 14-inch-long knife. An ex-convict, he drifted in and out of the facility, spending long hours "wandering the street and panhandling for drugs," the state's report said.

On July 30, he stabbed two residents, cutting the face of one and the shoulder of another. Authorities were alerted by another resident who dialed 911 because the only staff member on duty had gone home, according to the state.

Those incidents were not reported to the state, as required.

Lakeside Boarding Home has requested a hearing to protest the license revocation and fine. The home's lawyer, Ed Clancy, declined to comment.